Newsweek in plain Finnish | Sunday 8.3.2026

Iran War. Finnish Nuclear Weapons Act. Party Support. Women’s Day.

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Iran War

This week, the news has been following the Iran war every day.

The Iran war has been going on for over a week now.

The US says it has struck thousands of targets in Iran. The US has struck, for example, military targets and oil facilities.

Iran has retaliated against neighboring countries that host U.S. bases. There have already been attacks on 12 countries in the Middle East.

There are approximately 3,000 Finns in Middle Eastern countries. Many of them want to come to Finland because of the war.

However, it is difficult to travel away from the Middle East because air traffic is not operating.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranged a plane to pick up Finns, but the flight could only accommodate about 160 people.

Map showing tensions in and around Iran.

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The Iran war has spread to many countries in the Middle East. Photo: Maiju Hakalahti / Yle, Mapcreator, OpenStreetMap

Finnish Nuclear Weapons Act

The government announced this week that Finland will change the law on nuclear weapons.

Minister of Defense Antti Häkkänen said that in the future a nuclear weapon can be transported to Finnish territory if it is needed to defend Finland.

Häkkänen says that the legal change is needed because Finland is now a member of NATO. NATO countries do not generally have a complete ban on nuclear weapons.

Opposition parties have been surprised by the government’s announcement that the import of nuclear weapons will be permitted into Finland. The matter has been quietly being prepared within the government.

Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen at a press conference.

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Minister of Defense Antti Häkkänen said that Finland intends to grant permission to import a nuclear weapon into Finland if it is needed to defend Finland. Photo: Berislav Jurišić / Yle

Party support

Yle published a party support survey again this week. Every month or so, Yle asks Finns which party they support.

The most popular party is still the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The SDP is supported by about 25 percent of Finns. The SDP is not in the government.

The second most popular party is the National Coalition Party, with support of around 18 percent. The National Coalition Party’s support has decreased slightly since February.

The National Coalition Party is the governing party and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo is also from the National Coalition Party.

The third most popular party is the governing Finns Party.

And the fourth most popular party is the opposition party, the Center Party.

In Yle’s latest party support survey, the SDP is still in the lead with 25.0 percent and the National Coalition Party is in second place with 17.9 percent. The PS returned to third place with 14.9 percent.

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The Social Democratic Party (SDP) is still the most popular party. Photo: Parliament, Petteri Sopanen / Yle and Silja Viitala / Yle, graphics: Nanna Särkkä / Yle

International Women’s Day

To end the week, International Women’s Day was celebrated today, Sunday.

A Women’s Day march was organized in Helsinki. Approximately 20,000 people participated in the march.

The march demanded that equality be increased and that the rights of women, girls, and minorities be promoted.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo also participated in the Women’s Day march.

Women’s Day has been celebrated around the world since the beginning of the 20th century. In Finland, Women’s Day was introduced in 1990.

This was a news week in plain Finnish. See you again, let’s hear from you!

A large group of people marching on the street holding placards.

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International Women’s Day was celebrated on Sunday. Photo: Seppo Samuli / Lehtikuva